-- Troops detained a suspected Iranian-backed “special groups” criminal and two other suspects early this morning in the Hillah area south of Baghdad. The targeted suspect allegedly had planned to assassinate Hillah police leaders. He also is suspected of providing special groups cells with $100,000 and operational intelligence, officials said.

-- Ground forces captured a suspect west of Qayyarah who allegedly is tied to al Qaeda in Iraq leaders and their smuggling network. Coalition forces identified the individual based on intelligence gathered during a March 30 operation. Troops detained one additional suspect.

-- Coalition forces in Mosul captured two suspects who are believed to be linked to a senior figure in the al Qaeda in Iraq network.

In Iraq operations yesterday:

-- Coalition troops east of Samarra stopped a truck in which a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq associate was traveling with three other individuals. When two passengers reached for weapons in the back of the vehicle, coalition forces perceived hostile intent and engaged the men, killing all four.

-- Coalition aircraft conducted a precision strike on a house in Basra, killing two criminals. Coalition forces are unaware of any civilians killed in the strike; they are currently investigating the matter further, military officials said.

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers engaged and killed a man planting a roadside bomb in northeastern Baghdad. Military officials said another suspected emplacer and a local woman being used as a human shield also were wounded in the incident; officials extended their sympathies to the victim and her family.

-- Troops captured a wanted individual during operations in Mosul. The suspect is believed to be a senior figure in the al Qaeda in Iraq network and tied to several senior terrorist leaders. Coalition forces nabbed one additional suspect.

-- A local Iraqi led a unit of Multinational Division Center soldiers to a key suspect in Salman Pak, where troops detained the individual. The suspect was No. 2 on Company A, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment’s list of suspected criminals and No. 4 on Multinational Division Center’s list.

-- Iraqi army and Multinational Division Center soldiers recovered five weapons caches in Kutimiyah. The caches contained 45 rocket-propelled grenades, a .50-caliber machine gun with 500 rounds of ammunition, dozens of fuses, an anti-personnel mine, two 81 mm mortar tubes, a machine gun and various ammunition.

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers seized a munitions cache while patrolling the New Baghdad area of the Iraqi capital. The cache contained armor-piercing explosively formed penetrators, rocket-propelled grenades, RPG launchers and sticks of RPG propellant.

In Mahmudiyah on April 1, a tip from an Iraqi citizen led Iraqi Army soldiers to a local weapons cache. The cache contained two explosively formed projectiles, four rocket-propelled grenades, a 60 mm mortar tube and mortar round, and small-arms ammunition.